Updates on Cooke, Laich and Fedorov

I've got several updates from a conversation I just had with General Manager George McPhee.

*Left wing Matt Cooke, as expected, will not be returning to Washington. The signing of Matt Bradley made Cooke expendable/redundant. "Obviously, Matt Bradley has been with us longer and was committed to us," McPhee said. "You can't keep everybody."

*McPhee and lead contract negotiator Don Fishman continue to work on re-signing Brooks Laich, Boyd Gordon and Shaone Morrisonn. (Eric Fehr is expected to accept his qualifying offer.) Asked about Laich's situation, McPhee said: "At some point we'll reach an agreement on a deal whether it's through arbitration or a negotiated process. If someone puts an offer sheet, we'd match it. We'll get a deal done one way or another."

*The talks with UFA center Sergei Fedorov are moving in a positive direction. "We've talked to Sergei," McPhee said. "He wants to come here and is willing to wait until some of the dust settles. We'll continue to talk to him, but we're pretty confident that we'll get something done here."

*McPhee also said he doesn't envision making another free agent signing. At least not right away.

"We won't be signing any more free agents," McPhee said. "Unless there's some bargain sitting there in late August or September. A lot of teams have been so aggressive, they're capped out. There could be some decent players that might be looking for work."